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Favorite films of 2012

I saw 29 first-run movies in 2012, a little more than my average. I wasn’t consistent about it; I would go weeks letting stuff pass me by, then go on a tear and see two per week for a month before again sinking into a moviegoing torpor. I say this as prelude to my annual list of my favorites of the year.

There are plenty of movies I didn’t see, “The Master” being one of the more acclaimed ones that didn’t interest me. Consider the following merely a conversation-starter. “The Artist” and “The Iron Lady” came out at the end of 2011, but like most of the public, I saw them in 2012. Biggest puzzler of the year: the acclaim for “The Avengers,” a perfectly serviceable entertainment but one that didn’t excite me, and I’m a fan of the comics. What average folks saw in it is beyond me. It and “Amazing Spider-Man” didn’t quite make my Top 20. My least favorites were “Prometheus,” “Hitchcock” and “To Rome With Love.”

Since it wasn’t a new release I didn’t include “Lawrence of Arabia” — which of course was a highlight of the year anyway — which means we tied at 30 movies apiece, Shirley. You saw a lot of different movies, some of them ones I had meant to see but didn’t get to.

I see you also hated “To Rome With Love.” All the good jokes (all three of them) were in the trailer, which I saw several times. The movie itself was in the Woody Allen genre I call the laugh-free comedy, of which he has become a master, “Midnight in Paris” aside.

John Clifford

I didn’t see very many films this past year, but I did really like Moonrise Kingdom from your list David, and Argo from Shirley’s list. I also quite enjoyed Skyfall, The Artist, Dark Knight Rises, and I hate to admit it, but I also got a kick out of Avengers.

davidallen909

Everybody but me got a kick out of Avengers, so there’s no shame in that.

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A roundup of news, history, food, travel and cultural items from around the Inland Valley.

About this blogger

A journalist for nearly 30 years, David Allen has been chronicling the Inland Valley for the Daily Bulletin since 1997 and blogging since 2007. His first book, "Pomona A to Z," was published in 2014.
E-mail David here. Read recent columns here.